Coming in March: Carlsen in Brazil

2/27/2014 – It is a full program: on March 6th and 7th Magnus Carlsen participate in a four-player rapid knockout tournament, and on the same days take part in a blindfold simul (against visually impaired players), hold a chess conference and give a 35-player simul. On the 8th and 9th he will play in the XIII International Open "Festa da Uva". Here are the details of his Brazilian binge.

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The reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen will play in the International Chess Festival “Festa da Uva” to be held in Caxias do Sul between March 6 and 9, 2014.

Caxias do Sul

This is a city in Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil, situated in the state's mountainous Serra Gaúcha region. It was established by Italian immigrants on June 20, 1890. Today it is the second largest city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The history of Caxias do Sul starts before the arrival of the Italians, when the region was being roamed by cattlemen and occupied by Indians. The Italian immigrants' occupation, mostly farmers from the Veneto region (northern Italy), started taking place in 1875 in Nova Milano. Nowadays, Caxias do Sul is an important city, and home to vast vineyards, wineries, a varied industrial park, and a rich and dynamic market. They are the reason why Caxias do Sul is called the "pearl of the colonies" and is the center of the Italian presence in Southern Brazil.

The city is located in the mountains of the Serra Gaucha, 2000 feet above sea level (scroll for panorama).

Regarding historical architecture one can find a few houses built for rich families, public buildings and Neo-Gothic churches, like as the Cathedral and the Chapel of Santo Sepulcro (Sacred Tomb). The first houses of the immigrants, made of stone, and later traditional wooden buildings, nearly all disappeared as the city developed, but some survive in the rural area, as well as many old chapels. The city has many intensely active museums and cultural centers, both private and official, and a great university which sponsors an art gallery, a museum, a huge library and a symphonic orchestra.

II “Recreio da Juventude” GM Chess Tournament

The four player rapid chess knockout tournament will take place on the weekend: the semifinals will be played on Thursday, March 6th, at 15.00h; the finals on Friday, March 7th, at 14:00h. Participants:

GM Andrés Rodríguez Vila, 40, Elo 2437,
best Uruguayan chess player in history

Before the start of the first round, at 10:00 a.m. on March 6th, Magnus Carlsen will give a blindfold simul against visually impaired players, and on the evening after the round, at 21:00h, he will hold a chess conference. On Friday, March 7th at 16:00h there will be a a press conference in the “Festa da Uva” Pavilion, and at 19:00h Magnus will give a simul with 35 players at Shopping Iguatemi – Rodovia RSC 453. The seats are already sold out, in spite of a 130 Euro price tag per board.

The venue is the “Festa da Uva” Pavilion. Free accommodation is available for participants at the Country Club "Recreio da juventude", near to the tournament venue. Player must bring bed sheets and towels. Due to the large number of participants, players are expected to bring their own chess sets and clocks.

The first two rounds of the Open will be played at the rate of 16 minutes per player, rounds three and four at the rate of 30 minutes per player, rounds five to nine will be played with the time control 60 minutes per player. In the last two rounds draws are not allowed. In case of a tie, an Armageddon game (six minutes for White, five minutes for Black, White has to win) will settle the score.

See also

10/24/2018 – Thanks to Norwegian social media guru Tarjei Svensen you can read highlights of a recent hour-long podcast with World Champion Magnus Carlsen being interviewed (in his native language) by two of his closest friends. | Photos: Alina l'Ami Players.Chessbase.com

See also

3/9/2018 – Twitter is becoming a battlefield of exchanges between top players these days. The Candidates 2018 is beginning in a couple of days from now and Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri have already had quite some serious battle of words on Twitter. While Magnus attacked Anish with all his might, the Dutch GM has been able to maintain his cool. A lot of this happened after it was made public that Anish Giri is working with Vladimir Kramnik in Berlin. We bring you chronologically all of what happened along with some background behind the tweets! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Video

Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik liked to play the French and once described it as a 'difficult and dangerous opening'. But in this 60 minutes video IM Andrew Martin suggests an aggressive and little-used idea of the renowned attacking player GM Viktor Kupreichik to counter the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!?. Andrew Martin uses the games of Kupreichik to show why this line could catch many French aficionados unprepared and is very dangerous for Black. Attacking players will love this line and the unusual complications that it promotes.

"Simple yet aggressive!" Enjoy this new exciting DVD by Simon Williams. Let the famouns Grandmaster from England show you how to gain a very exciting yet well founded opening game with the London System (1.d4 d5 2.Bf4).